International Calling Service

[Anonymous]

Hi

On Friday (17th) I received a message from O2 saying that I've been invited to test their new International Calling Service with a link. The attached link was https://www.o2.co.uk/intertrial 

I was excited for this as I used to use the World Chat quite often and my last month's bill was quite a hefty one due to international calls. 

The text message I received is below:

The message says that it has been already added into my account and that I did not have to do anything else. So I made a short call (to India) to test out if it was indeed active, but I was charged my usually rate of £2 per minute. instead of 2p per minute which the O2 webpage claimed. 

I called up 202 to confirm what was happening and if my rate was still infact the standard rate, and they were completely useless and they said they are not aware of any trial running at the moment, even though I asked them to specifically have a look at the webpage I linked above. 

I was wondering if anyone received a similar message and if there are anyone from O2 who's aware of this to clarify. 

Thank you

[MI5]

They have previously told us that accounts would be updated before the next bill was due.

[jonsie]

Unless you call just before the billing date....? 

[MI5]

Yeah, as discussed, within 24 hours, so best avoided the day before your bill is due, if possible.

[Jess863]

A bit late to the thread (and new to the forums!) but I too was a user of International Favourites, received the text as shown at the start of the thread and after a quick web chat with an o2 adviser was advised that the new trial was good to go. I then made a phone call to Germany (which I do regularly) and received a £220 bill for my troubles. I phoned o2 and got this cancelled from my bill (thankfully they hadn't taken payment yet).

Last week I received another text from o2 saying that this trial is now officially good to go. When I'd phoned about my refund they said that the trial hadn't started yet (despite my having been told via webchat that it had) so after receiving this second text I myself called o2 and asked is the trial ready? The guy was very good but admitted he didn't know much about it. From what he could see the trial was on my account and ready to go, but that if I had any further bills like the one above, to let them know. He made a note on my account to say that he had advised me of this.

I made a phone call to Germany last Saturday and then a couple of days later checked my account. I hadn't been charged (anything, at all) so I thought, okay, good, maybe it's working.

I've just made another phone call to Germany and was discussing with my friend the fact that I hadn't been charged anything and we agreed, this seemed promising.

Out of interest, I have just finished on the phone and thought, I will check my account.

Cue another bill, this one for £299. And that's for last week's call. Nothing as yet for this one but when I phone them in the morning I imagine they will be cancelling another £200 or so.

So I'm thinking- this trial evidently isn't working?! And they are surely doing themselves out of more money than they would have been had they just kept International Favourites?

Anyway, I'm glad in a way that it's not just me!

[MI5 · Accepted solution]

Have a look at the FAQ's at the bottom of the trial info page @Jess863 where O2 admit to billing errors and how they will correct it.

That's all the evidence you need.

https://www.o2.co.uk/intertrial

[Anonymous]

Hi 

Just to give an update, the way this works at the moment is it would register as a normal charge, but it would always be fixed within a couple of days. 

I've made multiple international calls and they all initially come up under the normal tariff, but a few days later they all have been changed to the trial tariff. 

This can seem quite scary and I think O2 should do a better job at atleast communicating it to the customers.

[MI5]

I can imagine how scary that would be @Anonymous

[Jess863]

Thanks for this @MI5

I'm just slightly concerned that the charge registering at the moment is for last week, and tonight is the first time all week it's shown up on my account.

I wonder if I leave it for a few days, at least until midweek, and then see if tonight's call has registered and at what rate the calls are now showing as being charged at, before I contact O2... 😕

[MI5]

It should update without you needing to call but I'd check and call if it was getting close to my billing date.
International call charges can also take longer to appear on your bill too, so that might explain the delay.